Expert Comment

"Alignment of trading and security interests, as articulated by the FCO seem to be taking centre stage, as DfID gets side-lined." Professor Shirin Rai, Director, Warwick Interdisciplinary Research Centre for International Development, comments on the Prime Minister's Global Britain announcement.

"This is unprecedented in living memory. It is hugely tragic in so many ways but especially in terms of what it has meant and means for many people’s livelihoods and for many businesses." Professor Abhinay Muthoo, Dean of Warwick in London, comments on the news that output in the UK fell by 20.4 per cent in April compared with the previous month.

Professor David Lambert, a Professor of Caribbean History at the University of Warwick, comments on the bronze statue of Edward Colston, who profited from the Royal African Company’s trade in enslaved men, women and children, being toppled and tossed into the harbour in Bristol.

As Centrica, the owner of British Gas, has announced plans to cut 5,000 jobs, Professor David Elmes of Warwick Business School and Professor Mike Waterson of the Department of Economics comment on the factors that may have led the company to this decision.

Results of a new survey suggest that over half of the UK population is struggling with sleep problems during lockdown. Here, Dr Nicole Tang from the Warwick Sleep and Pain Laboratory in the Department of Psychology comments on how events like the COVID-19 pandemic can disrupt our sleep, while sleep expert Dr Michelle Miller from Warwick Medical School offers some advice on sleeping well during lockdown.